Japanese Through Anime

How To Say I Love You In Japanese

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Thu, 19 May 2016 07:30:00 +0000

Hey guys, so I failed my goal to post once a day over the weekend. But the good news is it's not cause I was out getting smashed or anything, I was working on getting this new Japanese video lesson out for you guys! (...don't know if that's good news or just a sign that I have no life...)

Anyways, in this blog post I’m gonna give you a short break down of the anime/drama clips used in my video. Don’t worry too much if you don’t understand every little detail about how all this stuff works because I will go over all of it again in future posts and videos. So without further ado here you go…

Video clips

1) J-Drama “Pride” Ep. 6

Aki wo aishiteru

-This ones pretty simple, aki is her name. And “wo” is just like “ga” in this case.

2) Kimi ga Nozumu Eien Ep. 1

Suki desu!

-Here she’s simply screaming “Like/Love”! Which in is Japan is totally cool. Because she followed it with “desu” and that makes this sentence (sentence?) polite. Also in Japanese unlike English you just need a verb to make a sentence complete.

3) Suzuka Ep. 15

Nyugaku shita toki kara zutto suki deshita!

-Yeah, we’ll save this one for another time. Other than you should be able to see the word “suki" in there

4) Honey and Clover Ep. 24

Hagu-chan, ore wa kimi ga suki da yo

-Here we have the word “kimi” (you) used in the stead of the name, which is cool and overall makes sense since he just said her name (Hagu-chan)

-Other than that you should recognize the word “ore” (I) from my last video (link) and you really don’t have to add this word, but he felt the need the stress that is was him, that liked her.

-“Wa” is another (I know… theres quite a few) marker word, and just links “ore” to everything else

-“Da” Like it said in the video makes this sentence more firm, definite or declarative.

-“Yo” is kind of like an phonetic exclamation point.

5) Please Teacher Ep. 6

Sensei ga suki da

-Ok so in case you were doubting what you heard, yes he did say, “teacher” I love you… and if you think that’s gross, there’s a reason I cut the clip where I did… yeah…

6) Kimi ga Nozumu Eien Ep. 1

ore wa, kimi no koto ga, suki desu

-Alright even though this looks like a mouth full after all the pervious explanations you should be able to understand this one too.

My Skits

1) I love you stomach ache’s…

Jya, kiru ne~ aishiteru

Jya, iku ne~ aishiteru

Jya, rimokon wo tori ni iku ne~ aishiteru

Jya, toirei ni iku ne~ aishiteru

Jya, achi miru ne~ aishiteru

2) Yuna, I’m a creepy stalker

Yuna no koto ga suki! Zutto touku kara miteiru, kage kara,tsuyoi sougankyou de… kokuhaku no chaynsu wo matteita

Atashi mo!

3) Who’s Michael?

Yuna ga suki.

Michael ga suki

Michael?

4) I really like cats… Like a lot

Neko ga suki

Neko no koto ga suki

And that's all folks!

Video Transcript

Hey, Ken Cannon here. So today I’m gonna be teaching you all about how to say “I love you” in Japanese.
The reason for this lesson is the same as my Japanese cuss word video, (Look over and then up) the term I love you is the number one thing people generally search for when learning a new language.
Now saying “I love you” in Japanese is actually much more complicated than in English. Simply because there’s different types of love, and different meanings for each.
So to get right started, the literal word for “I love you” in Japanese is, aishiteru.
This word contains the notoriously hard to pronounce Japanese syllable, ru, so pay careful attention to that. Most people describe it as a cross between the english roo, doo and loo.
(Pronunciation guide) ai, shi, te, aishite, aishite, ru, ru , ru, aishite, ru, aishiteru. Aishiteru.
Now ai – means love
And shiteru- is the Japanese verb form of “doing”
So basically aishiteru means your “doing love” well, not yet, but hopefully right?
Ok now heres where the big “but” comes in, aishiteru is a very powerful verb, and is used only if you are in an extremely serious relationship, much more serious than the english counterpart requires.
So as you can guess this word is not used very often, in fact, some married couples have never even said this to each other.
So it’s not at all like the english “I love you” which is sometimes said so much it’ll give you a stomach ache.
Ok im gonna hang up now… I love you *kiss*
Jya, kiru ne, aishiteru yo*muah*
Ok im gonna go now, I love you. *kiss*
Jya, iku ne, aishiteru *muah*
Ok, im gonna use the bathroom now, I love you *kiss*
Jya, toirei ni iku ne, aishiteru yo*mauh*
Ok Im gonna go grab the remote control, I love you *kiss*
Jya, rimokon wo tori ni iku, aishiteru
Ok Im gonna turn my head now, I love you….. *kiss*
Jya, achi miru ne, aishiteru, **muah
So this is the point where I’d show you some anime examples, but to be honest Ive never even heard this word in anime before. So here’s an example from a J-drama :]
*pride example*
Now for those of you who aren’t in a till “death do you part” relationship. And still want to tell your smooch buddy, or future smooch buddy that you love them and not come off like your creepy obsessed stalker. I’ll share with you guys 2 other ways to do so.
But before I do that I want to teach you guys a vital concept/ word in japan and anime that doesn’t occur in America.
So that concept is…
Kokuhaku! Ko, ku, ha, ku, koku, haku, kokuhaku
Kokuhaku literatly means confession, and is what you call the event of confessing your love to your special someone.
(Pronunciation guide)
Ok the confession of love in japan is absolutely vital for any relationship to start in Japan. Basically you have to go up to someone and say “I love you!” in the most awkward way you can. No I’m kidding, this act is actually not weird at all unlike it would be in English, and is pretty much the norm.
Yuna…. I love you! I’ve always watched you secretly from afar, in the shawdows, with high powered binoculars … hoping to get the chance to kokuhaku you.
……
….(creeped out look)
…Me too!
*Cheesy Hug*

Yuna no koto ga suki! Zutto touku kara miteiru, kage kara,tsuyoi sougankyou de… kokuhaku no chaynsu wo matteita

Atashi mo!
Here’s some kokuhaku examples from anime..
(anime clips)
Ok Now that we have that covered, what do you say when were making our kokuhaku, or just wanna say something a little less serious then aishiteru.
Well the most basic non creepy way is…
“Name” ga suki, ga, su ki, suki, ga suki
So you simply replace the name part with my name.. hah no im kiddin, of course you put in the name of your S.B (copyright)
(Pronunciatoin guide)
OK, the word “suki” actually means “to like”. But in Japan this is word you use when your kokuhakuing, and it’s also the word used in most circumstances when you wanna say you love somebody.
Now ga is simply a “marker word” that comes after the name to indicate who or what it is your “suki” is directed towards.
Yuna ga suki.
Atashi, Michael ga suki
eh?
(Michael Phelps video)
As you’ll probably notice, Japanese word order is a bit backwards. Literately you’re saying, “you, I like”
And as I said in my Japanese Pronouns video, “I” is often omitted as it is in “Name” ga suki.”
(anime clips)
Ok now I’m going to teach you the more, proper way to say I Love/Like you.
“Name” no koto ga suki.
Now you’ll notice the difference is the little bit “no koto” this loosely translates to “about”
(Pronunciation guide)
Ok, the reason for this change is that “name ga suki” can sound a bit childish, since it’s so basic. Also “no koto” changes the word “like” into “Like like” as in mmhmm.
(fish on plate)
Sakana ga suki = I like fish
(face to face with fish)
Sakana no koto ga suki = I like you fish….
Koto is a word that means “intangible thing” as in “the idea of” I like, the idea of Yuna
And no, is another “maker word” which indicates possession, and links two nouns together. As in the Yuna’S idea, or again the idea OF Yuna.
(anime clips)
OK in closing we have.
Aishiteru – Till death do we part
Name ga suki – I like you
Name no koto ga suki – I love you

Ok I brushed passed a lot of the vital grammar since this is a youtube video but if you guys wanna see more examples or bunch more S.B related words. Head on over to JTA.com that’s JapaneseThroughAnime.com.
Anyway see you guys next week!
Aishiteru!
(binoculars)

How To Learn Japanese / My Story

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 07:24:00 +0000

Watching anime has always been a magnificent escape for me. I loved being able to dive into these awesome fantasy worlds . It all started with Inuyasha. I was 14 and going through a bit of a tough time and the show really helped me cope. After that it just took off. I watched all the popular shows from Naruto, Bleach, Ranma ½ to the more uncommon like Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, and Scrapped Princess. After about a year, I noticed myself picking up some Japanese, mostly small words like “kuso” and “nani” but I was definitely getting it. I found myself wanting to dive deeper into my fantasy worlds; I wanted to understand what my favorite characters were saying without the help of subtitles. So I decided to learn Japanese.

I started like most people, with a few websites and America’s “favorite” language program, Rosetta Stone. However, the websites couldn’t teach me to pronounce the words, let alone capture my attention. And Rosetta stone only frustrated me to no end, trying to figure out what words the pictures were referring to.

From there I jumped to Pimsluers and a little known 1980’s TV show called “Let’s Learn Japanese”. Pimsleur’s gave me the pronunciation I needed and “Let’s Learn Japanese” was actually interesting enough to capture my attention. So armed with my 4 resources I pushed on.

However for some reason, as I learned all this Japanese my actual comprehension of unsubtitled anime only slightly increased, even after I finished Pimsluers, Lets Learn JP, half of Rosetta stone and a number of websites.

I wondered why, but I soon knew the answer. I’d heard it before from all my online studies, that Japanese was a very different language. So different in the fact that it actually has two different versions: a formal and an informal (or casual language). Nearly all of the programs and learning methods teach strictly formal, because casual is understood to be rude if spoken to a non friend or family member.

Well the issue is that most anime almost always uses casual speech! Not only that but the programs I was using taught me words like, book, pen and economics major (?). Words almost never used in anime.

So from there I decided to take matters a bit more into my own hands. I had the basics of the language so I began to teach myself Japanese. I used actual words and sentences from the shows I was watching, developed a way to use the English subtitles as a teaching method, and researched casual Japanese.

After that a miracle happened, learning the hard and difficult Japanese language became fun! I started to do it whenever I had free time, staying up late and waking up early before school just to study Japanese. And my comprehension immediately quadrupled! I loved to learn Japanese from my favorite anime characters.

Within one year I had nearly completely mastered anime Japanese. Raw anime became a reality.

I can’t tell you how much more of an experience watching anime in its original language is. You learn so much more about the characters from just the way they speak. Japanese actually has over 6 ways to say the word “You” each one revealing the unique personality of the character that used it.

I don’t want to drag on but it’s for all these reasons and more that I want to share what I’ve learned! That in fact you can learn Japanese and it’s actually very easy and fun once you get the right method.

Enough about me though, what's your story? I'd love to hear about it, leave me a comment below!

Video Transcript

This video is gonna be a little different from my normal ones because as I was going through the survey results and I noticed a lot of people asked about how I learned japanese, or how I learned it so fast ect. And at first I didn’t want to do a vid like that since I don’t really want to put the spotlight on me or anything like that, but now I feel that maybe by hearing my story and where a was it might reflect a little bit on where some of you are now.

So sorry for you guys who just want to see me dress up like a hideous girl with pigtails.

Ok so it all started with a crazy passion for anime. I first saw dbz on toonami all those years ago, back when I was like 12 and loved it like most boys my age. But it wasn’t until I saw this show called inuysha on adult swim, cartoon network again. and I was like hey, I wonder if I watch this show online instead of waiting a whole day for a new episode. Now im not promoting pirating or anything like that, but in my defense I was a really bad kid. And well most of the things I did back then should never be repeated. Hah

But I found it online however it was in this crazy language with English subtitles. I didn’t quite know what I was going back then and it was a little weird at first but I just decided to watch it. And I got hooked! Watching in Japanese was soo much more awesome than the english. I really felt like I could just escape into this anime fantasy And god once I did it was like a whole new world opened up to me. I finished the show and moved on the hundreds of other titles, which all just pulled me into the stories just as much.

And to be honest it was what I needed at the time.

My parents were divorced since I was a kid and my dad my it kind of a habit to every year or so move in with a new girlfriend, most times in a new city, so you know the old girlfriend wouldn’t find him. So once he did I had to change schools, and at that time I had probably been to about 7 different schools, not kidding. Which as you might guess made me kind of socially awkward, didn’t have a lot of friends really. And also being super poor, my family couldn’t afford to buy me like normal clothes like most of the other kids, so it was kinda common for me to get teased because my pants were too high, high waters cause I grew to fast. And not being a stellar student in fact one year I got straights F’s and one D, that was an accomplishment, not easy to do mind you. And so incidentally my sort of hated me, so the home life kinda sucked too.

It got so bad I actually developed anxiety disorder, called social phobia. Yeah it exists. Which basically means your scared to go outside and stuff. But right around that time, I found anime and wow, it was like a present from Jesus. Haha. I loved it, I could totally forget about all my problems at home and school and just dive in.

Now after watching for about a year, I started to get frustrated with the subtitles. It was always in the way of the show and it was really annoying to “read” my anime. Not only that but I started to become obsessed with Japan, and everything Japanese. Jpop, japense video games, j –doramsa, Japanese music, culture all of it. It felt like I was Japanese in a past life or something. So wanted to go there, and really bad, and live there even.

Of course all of this requires knowing Japanese. So I set out to tackle this thing. I started with rosetta stone. And while it was a very nice looking program and all, and in the begging in was cool, matching the pictures with words. And the program started to get into sentences not just one word stuff. I found myself frustrated to no end trying to guess what exactly in the pictures they show you the words are referring to.

So gave up with that one, about a quarter way in.

Fortunately I found a copy of Pimsluer’s Japanese at the local library. And it too was pretty cool in the beginning but as I progressed I found that it was like I was being constructed sentences, with no regard for grammar so I could ever form my own sentences.After I finished the first 15 lessons. (half of program again) I decided it was time to move on.

So I did some research and found out about a old tv show called, lets learn Japanese basic. And it was great, despite its oldness and corniness. Compared to the last two things I tried anyway. However, after finishing up their first program I noticed my Japanese wasn’t really improving. What I mean is, I would learn these sentences and words and grammar points and I would go back to anime or Japanese tv and manga, and I couldnt understand a thing.

So basically I got fed up, I decided to take things into my own hands. I found out that Japanese actually has two different types of talking, formal and casual. And what most programs teach is formal and anime and 3what people use in everyday conversation is casual. Also the vocabulary they teach are things like book and pen and economics major? Now of course they do this because they want adult gaijin (foreigners) who come to japan to be able to speak politely. And when your learning in a school they want you to know school related stuff.

However! I knew there had to be a better way. I decided to teach myself casual japanese, and anime/casual related words. So at the time I was watching naruto, and I wanted to know, what were the most common words used in naruto from the top down, so I could teach myself Japanese with the show. So I actually spent 2 months search for manga transcripts of the show, from there I would take them and run word frequency analysis n them and chart the words in order of appearance. What I came up with were the 300 most common words in naruto. So instead of learning arbitrary words choosen in who knows what manner, I went down the list with a dictionary and google search as my friend, and focused my learning that way.

Another thing I did was was read a little book called “remembering the kanji” its an amazing book that will teach you all 2 thousand kanji in a matter of months. If you want to know more about it you can read about it on my blog in the review section. But in the book it used heavily the concept of mnemonic devices, crazy stories in order for you to remember the characters better, and its truly amazing.

But I thought hey, why not use that with words instead of just characters. So I applied that to every single new word I learned of my list of 300.In addition to this I came up with 2 dozon little techniques that helped me learn Japanese by myself

Now after this, absolutely miraculous things started to happen. I went from spending hours a day with pimsluer’s and rosetta and LLJB, to with an hour a day literately within a month starting to understand anime, and within one year, fully mastering all of the basics of the language. I can say that with confindence, because at the end of that year I went to Japan and it was every bit as much bliss as I though it would be. Not only that but I had native speaker constantly completely astounded at how good my Japanese . And after they asked how long id been studying for, and I told them a year they would pretty pee themselves. It was great.

I would also say to you that learning a language like that, especially your dream language and mastering it has emnese affects on your confidence. You might be oh yeah sure. But when I came back from japan, I was able to overcome my social phobia and not only that but become a midly popular guy. Which of course made me happy and my grades went up. I even got into UCLA one of the top universities in California.

this whole thing is of course why I started this youtube channel. To help people like you and me master Japanese, knock out those nasty subtitles and go to japan to have the time of your life.However on my newsletter over at my website I’ve been getting tons of people who want me to make something a little more. So after much correction and motivation by , mostly because I really don’t consider myself a good teacher, somewhat reluctantly I’ve decided to give it a shot.

And have since started working on a full length beginner video course. Using my list of 300 words from back then and over 2 dozen other secret techniques I discovered that shoot my Japanese learning through the roof. So If you wanna stay more updated on that you can join my newsletter over at my website.

But in any event , I would say if you have any hesitations in learning the language, don’t. It is without a doubt every bit as awesome as you think it will be. And if someone like me can learn Japanese, anyone can. Don’t give up and keep moving forward. Learning Japanese is possible.

That’s all for this video, and I’ll see you next time!

Chikan - How To Be A Pervert In Japan

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 23:02:00 +0000

Skip ahead to 1:10 to avoid intro :]

I also wanted to share a few pics I had to take down from my video because of some copyright issues with YouTube. They're such Prima-donnas...

Shitagi Dorobou (panty theif)

Washington Man arrested for stealing thousands of panties and bras...

Notice how this kind of thing is BIG news in America. "How unheard of!" they say. In Japan, this guy could be your neighbor, your friend, or your Sunday school teacher... all at the same time. No big deal...

Chikan (Train Groper)

Reading the comments on the video, no one could believe that this stuff actually happens and the girls don't do anything about it, or the chikan. What's even more surprising is that the other guys on the train, watching the chikan, don't even do anything! If this kind of thing went down in America, EVERYONE would get up and beat the shit out of this chikan guy. Crazy...

The chikan theme is also very popular in porn... that's what I've "heard" of course...

Rabu Hoteru (Love Hotel)

I read an amazing figure the other day! 1.4 million people in Japan, in other words, 2% of Japan's POPULATION go to a love hotel EVERYDAY! That's some big business...

Check out the bottom left room, chikan training room...

Meido Kafe (Maid Cafe)

This one's my personal favorite, I tell my girlfriend to act more like a maid cafe waitress everyday, still cant figure out why its not working... Maybe she needs the uniform...

What do you think about all this funny business? Does all this perverted stuff gross you out, turn you on, make you wanna dance, what? Leave me a comment below, talk to you later!

Video Transcript

How’s it going? My names Ken Cannon and at the slight risk of never being invited to appear on Victor’s channel again, I’m gonna be talking to you about how to be a pervert in Japan.

Many of you may have heard the generalization that “Japan is a country of perverts!” And well I’m here to tell you that its true! But I’m also here to tell you that so is every country in the world. Japan just has some particularly interesting ways of being perverted.

( Peeping toms are soo yesterday)

So without further ado, I bring you 1^st way to be a pervert in Japan.

And that is, shitagi dorobo! Literatly Panty theif

(pronunciation guide)

Ok so shitagi means underwear, but more specifically, woman’s underwear. It used to be used to refer to the undershirt of a samurai, you find the connection

and dorobo simply means thief

Now surprisingly this act is pretty common in Japan

itikimasu

Anata, doko ni iku no?

A, shitagi dorobo ni iku

Ah so, kiosukete nee

Hai~

Kyaaa! Dare!, kimaten desho.. shitagi dorobo.

Ah!!.. ah sou ka…

So how this works a male typical sneak into the house on an adult women, walk past the expensive stereo system, her thousands of dollars and jewelry to find her dresser, steal her underwear…. And then walk back past the expensive jewelry, her fascy stero systems... and leasve

What they do with the underwear after is a little beyond the scope of this lesson…

*drinking coffee*

Oh hey do you have any napkins??

Yeah here ya go..

*hands him a panty*

Allrigh! On to how to be a pervert in Japan Tactic 2!

Chikan!

Now this is one you might have heard of if you’ve ever riding a train in Japan, or maybe you’re even more familiar with it than I think…

Anywho, chikan means molester but is more commonly used to refer train Gropper.

(Pronunciation guide)

Now as I said this term is mostly used to refer to train groppers. Now what that more specifically means is that a man will get on a train look for a nice obienet looking groopee. And go to work!

*Awkard grope*

*giant sheman turns around*

*ah…*

Now as many of you potencial chikans’ may be saying, well, “I tried that one day on the train and I got groped back with giant kick in the balls”

The thing is that is in Japan women, and most men as well, don’t like to cause trouble so they typically don’t say anything.

*awkard grope*

*giant she man looks up and just shrugs*

*hehehehe*

Apparently this problem is actually soo prevelant in japan that they have recently created girls only trains.

*Bajillions of giant shemales board train*

OK, now what if you’re just a regular old pervert like the rest of us and just want a place you can go to fulfill all your pervy needs. Well japan has just the places for you. 2 in fact!

Number 1 pervy place.

rabu hoteru, literately “love hotel”

(Pronunciation guide)

Now love hotels are something that occur in a few other countries as well, even in America as a no tell motel? But never has a country perfected this art as much as Japan.

Now I say art, because well there really no other word to describe the inside of these rooms, besides monstrosity of course. In general they range from hello kitty heart covered dungeons to underwater racetracks for Martians…

Ahh kawaaii! Nani sore??

Oh omiyage

Hee omiyage ne, doko kara?

Ahh,, ettoo…. Roshia?

So what you do when you wanna get yourself a hotel full of love is you find these rather discrete apartment looking places, go in pay the person behind the frosted glass for a “rest” period ranging anywhere from 1 to 3 hours, denpending on your stamina, and enjoy =)

Ok! Were at my place now! =D heheh…

Is this really your apartment?

Sou yo..

Why does it say “Hotpassion” there…?

Oh well, you know, I’m from America, we have strange last names… don’t worry, come lets go…

OK and the 2^nd pervy place and the last concept/word for this video is..

Meido kafe, in english, maid café!

(pronunciation guide)

Maid cafes are essentially otaku fantasy centered café’s where all of the waitresses dress up in French maid uniforms and treat their customers like masters.

In fact instead of hello, or hi, they greet all of their customers with a friendly, okaerinasaimase, goshujin-sama~ <3

(Pictures of maid cafes)

The menus of maid café’s are usually the same as most café’s but with the twist of everything being cutified. i.e smilley face omlettes ect.

Maid delivers omlets

I look down with a surprised awkward look.

And the omelet has a picture of victor on it.

Other typical courtesy’s of maid cafes are, spoon feeding, neck massages, and even ear cleaning’s (clips of me getting these things)

To recap, how to be a pervert in japan step 1.

Steal some panty’s

Step 2.

Grab some train booty

Step 3.

Get some love at a hotel

And Step 4

Go get your ears’s cleaned

Alright I just want to thank Victor for letting me appear on his channel, probably for the last time. And most of all, you, the potential pervert, for making our world a better place.

Laters

Disclaimer : Ken Cannon should never be listened to at any time, for any reason, what so ever. Please do not become a pervert, or go to japan… ever… thank you…http://japanesethroughanimeclass.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=2990b6602314fd4cf6b3eaf98&id=741454431a

Japanese Pronunciation

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 20:27:00 +0000

Diju go dada store?

This is probably a really bad idea for a blog post, I should really get my lazy ass up and make a video for it. But that aside, diju go dada store?

I was doing some tutoring work the other day, and I was trying to correct one of my student’s accents to make it sound more natural. Now keep in mind this is one of those bastard genius students that everybody secretly hates because they learn everything twice as fast. (I’m just kidding of course I love her)

But I couldn’t quite get it right, even though she was such a good student. That is until I had this little revelation. When you speak in English, do you enunciate every single syllable? I mean, even if you’re one of those people that do pride yourself in your speech, if you’re honest, I’d hallucinate that you really don’t. Because it just sounds weird when you talk to people like that.

It’s not natural, and frankly it’s more work too. And I hate work, so as you can imagine I’m one of the worst enunciators in the world. But, I sound like a native English speaker, probably cause I am.. I think.. But I believe a lot of it has to do with the fact I don’t enunciate everything. I don’t say words the way they are written. (<--big key when learning Japanese)

Now this might be influenced from slang, and if you’re British or something then you probably already think I talk like an idiot anyway and really shouldn't be encouraging it.

But if you look at the first sentence of this post, yes the one that looks like I fell asleep in spelling class.. which of course I did, just don't tell anyone… You’ll see the way you pronounce, “Did you go to the store?”, is a lot closer to “diju go dada store” if you’re speaking at normal speed in the middle of a conversation.

Now of course like I said in the beginning there are always exceptions, so you don’t need to get mad and throw rocks and stuff at me for it. But once I tried explaining this to my student, her Japanese pronunciation improved immediately.

Instead of trying to say “Ore wa shinobi da” just like it’s written.

(I’m a ninja)

Try meshing the 4 words together a little bit more. Think of the whole sentence as being one big word instead of 4 individual ones.

This is again a dumb idea for a blog post but if you get really close it should sound a little closer to something like.

Orea shnobi da

Let’s try another

Yatsu wa baka da yo

(He’s an idiot.)

If you mesh it together good enough, and don’t just try to say the whole thing really fast. Of course when you try this, the speed of the sentence does increase, but that’s not the only dynamic that occurs.

It should sound a little something like this…

Yatsa baka dao

Well I hope that helps your pronunciation a bit. I’d love to hear any other methods or ideas of how you have worked on your pronunciations, leave a comment below letting me know.

Talk soon!

Japanese San, Chan, Sama, Sensei, Kun

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 01:32:00 +0000

SO sorry for the delay guys but I finally got my next video out! Its on the Anime Suffixes or "Honorifics"

And the transcribed text...

Learn Japanese | Anime Suffixes

Hey everybody, as usually I’m Ken Cannon, and today I’m gonna be teaching you guys the Most Common, Japanese Anime Suffixes.

This is of course to offset a little bit what I taught you guys last week. The Top Ten Anime Cuss words! Aka. How to be a dick head in Japanese!

Hopefully this video will add some politeness to your Japanese vocabulary, so you can thoroughly de- dickhead yourself.

Now most of you if you’ve been watching anime for, 5 minutes, you’re familiar with what these are. In technical jargon, there called honorifics.

And for you guys I’m gonna to try to include a bit more of detail on how the word is actually used, and hopefully some stuff you didn’t know.

But for the rest of you Anime Noobs, Japanese suffixes or honorifics are little titles stuck to the back of a name. In other words, I would be known as Ken-sensei. Although that makes me sound old and gross, so please don’t call me that. J

Alright! Getting started!

With the most common Japanese suffix

-San

San is often equated to the English Mr. or Mrs. But here no one really uses those terms unless you’re old and balding so I find that translation rather inaccurate. However the meaning is correct, in that it’s mainly used for adults, and as a sign of respect for people you don’t know very well.

(Pronunciation guide)

In Japanese San is the defacto, so if you don’t know what to call someone, san is usually the way to go.

(man dressed in womens clothing)

Konichiwa desu! Sakura to moshimasu!

Konichiwa… sakura…san

With san, make sure you never refer to yourself with it, because it’s a symbol of respect. It would kinda sound like your worshiping yourself.

(Naruto clips)

Now the rule of thumb on when you become a –san (i.e. graduate from some of the other suffixs I’m going to teach you) Is for girls it happens when you graduate middles school or junior high, and boys, after graduating high school.

And yes the implication here is maturity.

Okay! Moving on to the next commonly used honorific

-chan!

This suffix is actually more common than -san in anime, and is used as an expression of endearment, so as you might guess, it’s the default for young children and girls.

(Pronunciation guide)

You can also use this term if you a sexist old bastard and want to pick up on younger women.

Ne, ne ojou-chan, ima kara doko ka, ikanai?

(man dressed in women’s clothing)

This phrase is also commonly used when referring to pets or animals..

Gomen ne neko-chan… oven wa atsukatta?

So if you’re a guy older than 12 and someone calls you this, it might be a good time to use your newly learned “Temee”

(Naruto clips)

Ok, the next commonly used suffix is,

-Sensei!

This suffix in it’s root, means teacher

(pronunciation guide)

However something that sets this suffix apart, is that while –san and –chan must be attached to the back of a name, you can use sensei by itself.

As a pro-noun of sorts

Now sensei doesn’t mean just “teacher” , it can also used when referring to doctors, poets and evem manga artists or manga- ka. Basically you can use sensei to pretty much refer to anybody with a certain level of mastery in a subject.

Sensei! Anata no toenail clipping skills wa saiko desu!

And here’s some examples from naruto

(naruto clips)

Okay on to suffix number 4

-sama

This honrific is used a lot more in anime than in actual real life. And it’s used to show extreme respect for someone

(Pronunciation guide)

Now as I said this phrase is a lot more popular in anime than in real life, most likely because you can sometimes equate this suffix to (king). And in Anime there is a lot more kings and queens than in real life… besides me of course.

“temeera ore nit suite koi”

(man in womens clothing)

“hai! Ken-sama!”

Now in Real life this phrase is most often heard when referring to customers of a business, as in okyaku-sama.

Other uses like I mentioned above would be when referring to actual kings or presidents, Obama-sama?

(Naruto clips)

Alright and the last honorific for today’s lesson is!

-Kun!

This is used mainly for younger males

(pronunciation guide)

Now like I said boys generally graduate this term until college, but it’s also pretty common for a boss to call an employee -kun no matter his age. Basically you use it for male younger or lower than you in status.

George Bush – kun?

-Kun can also be used by girls on a guy they’ve known for a while or are particularly found of.

“Ken-kun ttara!”

And here’s some examples from naruto.

(Naruto clips)

Now to do a little re cap…

San, the defacto

Chan, for little ones

Sensei, for teachers

Sama, for kings

And Kun, for boys

Alright! As a side note really just want to thank everybody for all your comments, subscriptions and wonderful encouragement you guys have given me this past month. And I know I went on a bit of a hiatus for about 3 weeks.

My brother actually came to visit me from out of state so I really wanted to maximis the amount of time I had with him. So sorry. But I’m back in my grove again so please subscribe if you like my stuff and I’ll see you guys next week!

Japanese Swear Words

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Sat, 21 Mar 2015 21:38:00 +0000

I finally finished my first video! Well, the first half anyway. It's on The Top Ten Most Common Japanese Anime Cuss Words!

This is the transcribed text

Hey my names Ken Cannon and I’m gonna be teaching you guys the top 10 most common Japanese cuss words, with a little help from the popular Japanese anime naruto.

But before I get started I should note that Japanese unlike English is a lot less colorful in its word choices. So most of the words I’m going to be teaching are ones that are when translated to English come out as swear words, but wouldn’t be categorized in Japan as swear words per say.

That being said, if you used these around the house your mama would probably still slap you.

Alright let’s get started,

Cuss word number 1! And the most commonly used cuss word in most anime is

Kuso

Which literately means shit, or feces, or caca, or poopoo booboo whatever you like to call you droppings.

Ill repeat it a few time so you can get the pronunciation down.

(pronunciation guide)

Kuso is also used mainly as an exclamatory. For example...

Kuso! AA no kaigi ni okurechau

kuso! onara shichatta

Kuso! Neko wo Ouben ni wasurechatta

Ect.

Maybe it be better if you saw how it’s used in naruto…

(Naruto clips)

And there you go. However one way kuso is not used is when in subsitution for the word “stuff”

In other words, in English it’s common for us to say things like...

“I left my shit at home” or “that’s some cool shit” but kuso unfortunately carry the same meaning.

Alright now on the cuss word number 2

Chikusho

Chikushou is more or less translated to “Damn It!” or “Fuck!”

(Pronunciation guide)

Chikushou like kuso is also used mainly as an exclamatory. But unlike kuso it carries a stronger connotation. So you’d use it in a more dire situation.

For example...

“Chikushou! Chirigami ga nai!”

“Chikushou! myutsu ga nigeta?!”

Here’s some more useful examples..

(naruto clips)

And that’s that, again though chikushou is only used as an exclamatory. So don’t walk up to your

Girlfriend and ask her if she wants to chikushou.. doesn’t work that. (Actually I hope you don’t do that in English either...)

On to cuss word number 3...

Baka

One of the more popular Japanese words for some reason. Baka means “stupid” or “idiot”

(Pronunciation guide)

You can use baka in pretty much the same way you would in English.

“Baka! Sore wa ringo juusu jai nai!”

On that note...

(Naruto clips)

Alright! Cuss word number 4!

Temee

In actuality “Temee” really is just a severally rude way to say “you” but it is usually translated to “you bastard” or “you bitch” because of its connotation.

(Pronunciation guide)

This phrase is also very popular among angry drunk old dudes for some reason.

But anyway its quiet useful for misunderstandings...

“Temee! Cosmo no koudoku hoshikunai tte ba! “

But it general you can use it whenever you address your bitches or bastards.

“Temmera! Ore ni tsuite koi!”

Temeera is simply the plural version of temee

Remember to use temee only as a pronoun

Cuss word number 5!

Yarou!

Yarou is often translated to “bastard” but unlike “temee” it’s used as a noun not a pronoun

(Pronunciation guide)

Yarou literately means farm hand.. Because you know how those farm hands are all bastards.

heres an example of how it differs from temee

“temee! Omae wa nanto baka yarou da!” (Zoom in on teddy bear)

Now if you were really paying attention you noticed I used the phrase “baka yarou” in that last example

With the word you yarou you can attach other nasty words to make even nastier words.

Such as “baka yarou” and even “kuso yarou”

Japanese Through Anime Pre-release Class Registration

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 20:03:00 +0000

-----------

2/16/12 EDIT: If you didn't make it into the class!

Simply sign up for my newsletter with your email address, and I will send you information regarding the next release of the course! :)

-----------

Hey, so glad you decided to stop by and help me out, I really appreciate it. Now, I won’t go into too much detail about the course because frankly that’s what the 30 day free trial is for. But some main points are…

What you’re getting.

-A 45 page textbook that includes summaries of all the lessons, hundreds of exercises and as little homework as possible ;)

-My complete list of the 300 most common words in anime

-My complete list of 150 mnemonics stories that go along with each of the most common words.

-An hour long video lesson every single week with me walking you step by step through every single vocabulary word, mnemonic story, all of Japanese grammar and hundreds of examples.

-A half hour long audio lesson every single week that corresponds to each and every video lesson.

-150 printable mnemonic enhanced flashcards

-A private email address that pops up right on my phone to ensure I will always be only a couple minutes away from answering your questions.

-15 of my best techniques for learning Japanese through anime. (P.S. - these are the real golden nuggets that allowed me to learn Japanese with lightning like speed.)

-Forever access to all of the content, including all the updates I make. Meaning you can review and go at your own pace as much as you like, whenever you like.

What’s it all gonna do for you.

If you follow everything in the course, I promise to help you shave at least 2 years off your Japanese learning career. In other words, you’ll be able to learn at least 90% of conversational Japanese in less than one year. How do you like them ringos (apples)?

So what should you do?

Simply click the “Subscribe” button below, and fill in your paypal or credit card info.

Remember, I only have about 100 spots so if you’re ready to really master conversational Japanese then please click the “subscribe” button below now.

Free month trial

And then 2 payments of 67.95

After you sign up for the course you will get an email (to the address in your paypal account or the one you used when you signed up) from me explaining how the membership site will work. And then after that I’ll be sending you your first lesson. :)

And if you have any other questions, feel free to email me at KenCannon@JapaneseThroughAnime.com

------------

2/16/12 EDIT: If you didn't make it into the class!

Simply sign up for my newsletter with your email address, and I will send you information regarding the next release of the course! :)

-----------

Anime Fashion

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sun, 29 May 2011 03:28:00 +0000

Hey so as part of the JTA course I allowing all of my students the opportunity to write a Japanese/anime language related post here on this blog, to further their learning and, to put up some awesome blog posts for everybody else. Since its very obvious by now that a have a little bit of trouble with that.

So first up we have a post from the lovely Heather, who is gonna teach us all about fashion! Which is something I need no help with whatsoever... obviously.. but some of you might learn a thing or two...

-----------------------------------

Hey everybody I’m Heather and Ken asked me to be the first to put up a post so I decided to combine two of my passions, anime and fashion. Inspiration for fashion can come from anywhere and I want to show how to transform iconic pieces from some popular anime characters into items that people can wear on a regular basis.

1. Hunter x Hunter-Mito’s choker

Cho-ka (チョーカー) - Choker

In Hunter x Hunter, Gon’s aunt, Mito, constantly wears this unique green choker. I was immediately drawn to it because it’s not your typical necklace. First of all, it’s green instead of your typical silver or gold and second instead of a thin, dainty chain it has a thick, strong open cable. I stumbled across this David Yurman bracelet and thought it was be the perfect duplicate for Mito’s choker. Although it is a bracelet instead of a choker, the overall aesthetic is the same.

2. Hunter x Hunter- Kurapica’s chains

Kusari (鎖) - Chain(s)

Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of girls wearing bracelets with chains that connect to a ring or two,
or even three or four, like the one Kurapica, in Hunter x Hunter wears. Kurapica was sporting
these chains, albeit for a different purpose, long before it was fashionable. Although in
reality, these jewelry pieces do not double as weapons, they have an edgy and tough look to
them.

3. One Piece- Luffy’s straw hat

Mugi wara boshi (麦わら帽子) - Straw hat

Luffy from One Piece is known for his courage, carefreeness, rubber body and straw hat. Straw
hats are especially nice in the summer because they are lightweight and breathable so your
head won’t get too hot or sweaty. I am an especially big fan of the fedora shape because it looks
flattering on pretty much anyone while providing some valuable sun protection.

4. Pokemon- Ash’s fingerless gloves

Tebukuro (手袋) - Gloves

The one thing more famous than Ash Ketchum is his costume. These gloves are most commonly
seen in the gym and used for weight and cardio training. It makes sense that Ash would like to
wear these gloves seeing as he is a Pokemon trainer and is constantly dueling it out in gym battles. You can buy a pair of these gloves at your local gym or sports equipment store, or you can even cut
up a pair of old gloves to get the same effect.

5. Yugi-oh- Duke’s earring

Iyaringu (イヤリング) - Earring

Duke, from Yugi-oh, is one of my favorite characters from the show, not just for his personality but also for his unique sense of style. One of my favorite pieces that he wears is his dice earring. It is very symbolic of his love for chance, and not to mention it looks pretty cool. Although, it is possible to buy dice earrings, oftentimes they can be too fancy and ornate, like the rhinestone encrusted pair shown above, and too expensive. In fact, these are actually quite easy to make. All you need would be a pair of dice, a couple of little hook-eye screws, some earring posts and several inches of chain. These can all be found at your local craft store. Basically all you have to do is screw the hook-eyes into the dice, attach one end of the chain to the screw and the other to the earring post and voila, dice earrings for less than $10!

One Piece Vocabulary

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 07:03:00 +0000

Awesome, time for another episode of anime vocabulary! This time its One Piece! At one point the most downloaded anime on the internet. Crazies...

So lets get started!

Kaizoku (海賊) - Pirate

This is probably the most obvious word, so I'll start with that. Used crazy a lot. I mean the main character wants to be the "Kaizoku Ou" (pirate king) and all... I'm actually working on this goal myself, but alas Limewire had to mess up all my plans!

Umi (海) - Sea

You can't have a pirate show without one of these, umi is actually a special word that means both beach and sea. It doesn't actually mean beach but when you would want to say in English... "Hey my hommies, lets go to the beach todayzz" You would actually use the word umi, in Japanese.

Fune (船) - Boat

Another big hitter in this series, and definitely a must for the future pirate king, I mean you can't be a pirate king and drive a Camry, thats just not cool.

Gomu (ゴム) - Rubber

This word is also short for eraser, "Keshi Gomu"... and yes it is slang for another slightly less reusable "rubber" in Japan as well....

Tonakai (トナカイ) - Raindeer

Probably the most useless word possible outside of this anime, so you know I have to teach it... but also I really like the way it sounds... tonakai... tonakai... yeah baby....

But surprisingly this word is kind of common in the anime, since Chopper is always correcting people that he is not in fact a "tanuki"

Kenshi (剣士) - Swordsman

Ahhh finally a more useful word in everyday life... but no all jokes aside this word is actually somewhat common in anime in general, so yup good to know.

Shima (島) - Island

Theres definitely a lot of shima's in One Piece, not to mention the fact that all of Japan is one big giant shima.

Nami (波) - Wave

The word for wave, and the name of a character! As you know I love killing two stones with one bird. You may also recognize this word as part of the now English word, "tsu-nami" or tidal wave? Tsu in this case meaning harbor. Its a wave that hits harbors! Yay!

Kaigun (海軍) - Navy/Marine

This word actually just means "navy" or a military's "sea force" where as "marines" is just a portion of the navy. But ah well, its not the first time I've seen a little Engrish in Japan.

Akuma no mi (悪魔の実) - Devil Fruit

Why can't these be part of a healthy, nutritious diet? Pretty simple phrase though, akuma means devil... or my grandma... and mi means fruit. Although the proper way to say "fruit" in Japanese is "kudamono", mi can actually mean fruit, nut or seed.

Mugi wara (麦藁) - Wheat Straw

This is the word that is often translated as "Straw hat" in the anime.. because it might be a little weird if everybody went around calling Luffy, "wheat straw".... well in English anyway.

Shoukin (賞金) - Bounty

Ignoring the ugly dude in the picture, this is what all those shoukin kasegi's (bounty hunter's) are after in the series. This word can also mean prize money or something to that nature.

Whew, One Piece had a lot. Like last time any additions or things I missed feel free to add below!

And I'll see you next time Yarou domo! (My fellow bastards! ( and yes that is indeed what a captain calls his crew.. (and yes I just used a parenthesis inside of a parenthesis...inside of a parenthesis, what can I say, I live on the wild side) ) )

Bleach Vocabulary

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 02:20:00 +0000

So this is something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but never had the chance to. A series of blog posts teaching about certain anime series "specific vocabulary words". Words that, if you are learning Japanese, you just can't do without if you're watching that show. And of course, they're not your typical textbook material.

So starting off with one of the biggest series out there, Bleach.

Shinigami (死神) - Death God/Soul Reapers

This word is the most obvious, and as a result, most of you may already know of it. It's made up of the kanji 死 (shi) or death and the kanji for god 神 (kami).

This is a somewhat recently popular mystical character and you can find other verisions in the series Death Note, Full Moon wo sagashite, and Soul Eater.

Tamashii (魄) - Soul

Souls are to Bleach as toilet paper is to a toilet, you cant have one without the other.

Reiatsu (霊圧) - Spiritual Pressure

Not really a real word in Japan, but since its used so much in Bleach I had to include it. Think of Chakra in Naruto.

Ken (剣) = ME/Sword

Yes my name also means sword, which is why I’m so sharp (oh, oh, see what I did there?)

Anyways, "zanpakutou" (斬魄刀) is what most people in bleach call their sword, literally - "soul-cutter sword", but they will use the word for sword as well so you should know it.. or maybe I just wanted to show off my mildly, really, actually, not all that cool, name...

Taichou (隊長) - Captain

Probably the most spoken bleach specific word, everybody loves to talk to about their Taichou.

Fuku Taichou (副隊長) - Vice captain / Lieutenant

Probably the 2nd most spoken Bleach specific word, everybody also loves to talk about their Fuku-Taichou... but not as not much as their taichou... but still quite a lot... ok yeah thats enough..

Kamen (仮面) - Mask

You’ll hear this word a lot in the Visored episodes, since people tend to have a lot of masks there.

___ ban tai (番隊) - Divisions/Squads

So For example...

1st division = Ichi ban tai

Ichi = 1
Ban= “#” sign
Tai = Division

So you simply replace the ____ with the number of the division you're in.

Ichi- 1
Ni- 2
San- 3
Yon - 4
Go - 5
Roku - 6
Shichi - 7
Hachi - 8
Kyuu - 9
Jyuu - 10
Juu ichi - 11
Juu ni - 12
Juu san - 13

So thats it for now, if you can think of anything else Bleach related feel free to add them in the comments, and if they are indeed relevant I will add it to the post ^^

Until the next Anime Vocab Post!

Remembering The Kanji by James Heisig

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 03:45:00 +0000

Whoaaaa, I’m still alive!! I know, I know, there’s lots of people who are happy I’m back, and plenty more who wanna slap me for being gone. But it was for a good reason!.... so good I can’t even tell you what it was…

OK, I’m sorry for being a total flake, the truth is I got retardedly busy with school and work and gf and stuff, but I won’t say I didn’t have enough time to post here, It was just kinda, you know the longer you don’t do something, the harder it is to get back into it.

But enough of my excuses, what you guys want is the goods, so I’m here with a new blog post (there’s also a new vid and newsletter on the way) and I thought what better way to start then with a review of one of the greatest Japanese learning devices there is. Uh oh, did I just give away the rating? Anyway on with it…

What this book, "Remembering the Kanji" does is simply amazing, and its method is extremely different. The author, James Heisig, recognized that Chinese learners of Japanese have an unfair advantage since they already know the meanings of the characters, even if they don’t yet know the pronunciation. And they’re learning speed is incredible. Most times learning all necessary 2,000 characters in less than 6 months.

So he discovered a way to bring the same advantage to English learners. By breaking the more than 2,000 characters into less than 100 common pieces called primaries, he then used mnemonic devices to tie them together. Mnemonic devices are pretty much god’s gift to language learners, basically stories using the image creating part of the brain to remember the primaries and characters.

Whew… I feel like I wrote that last paragraph without taking a breath. Anyway, that’s the good stuff, back when I used the method I was able to crank in about 50 characters into my brain a day, and learned all essential 2,000 in about a month or 2. Of course my results are unique because I’m a learning freak, but most everyone else who has tried this method has had similar results.

Now for the bad news, you actually must purchase the second book to learn how to pronounce the 2,000 characters you learned. (Which means in the mean time you really can't read much, at least not in the normal way) And the second book isn’t nearly as revolutionary as the first, and can take anywhere from a couple months to a year to complete. I personally didn’t have a problem because at that point I had already learned most of the spoken language, and was able to connect the pronunciations rather quickly. Especially since I read manga quiet often ^^.

The price is relatively no problem, about 30 bucks per book. Not including the 3^rd book, which covers an additional 1,000 characters, which aren’t that essential, (at least it wasn’t for my purposes, average newspaper, manga, and book reading.) you’ll spend about 40 to 60 dollars.

I should also mention if you aren’t familiar, kanji is the most feared subject Japanese has to offer, one that most gaijin (foreigners living in Japan) never even master. And following any normal method is said to take about 4 years for all 2,000 on average.

Now this method isn’t for everyone, in fact I’ve seen quiet the bit of debate surrounding this book, even Koichi of Tofugu doesn’t agree with me here. But I consider this book one of my Japanese secret weapons, and therefore give it a very sexy...

8.5/10

Well thats my review, and like always I really wanna know what you think. If you have or have used Ja1 Remembering the kanji it be awesome if you could put a bit of your input below. Rate on a scale from 1 to 10 and hopefully we can get a discussion going on here.

Japanese Particles

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Thu, 27 May 2010 06:34:00 +0000

Ok continuing from last time, we have our sentences properly ordered now and all we have to do to make them into complete sentences is stick on our particles, or what I like to call them “markers”. Because they “mark” the words in a sentence as a subject or object ect.

I, people, punch = ore, hito naguru

I, feet, love = ore, ashi, suki

I’m, to the toilet, going = Ore, toire, iku

I‘ll, this, to you, give = ore, kore, omae, ageru

This, cool, is = kore, kakkoi, da

For those of you who don’t know what particles are yet, here is a quick description of the main 5.

Wa –topic marker (marks what you are talking "about", almost always comes first)

Ga – capital marker (emphasizes a certain word, marks "this" as opposed to something else)

Wo – object marker (marks “thing/person” of sentence, almost always comes second)

Ni – towards marker (marks when something is moving towards something)

E – destination marker (marks where your going)

You can also think of particles as marking the word that came before it as a certain part of the sentence. And how the sentence handles the word.

Let’s start with the first one

Ore(I), hito(people), naguru(punch)

Ore(I)- wa

We use the generic marker “wa” here, since we don’t want to particularly emphasize I’m the one who punches people, as opposed to somebody else. And a little tip is we almost always use “wa” to start with.

Hito(people)-wo

We use the object marker “wo” here since people, are the objects we're punching. Now we could use “ga” here, if we wanted to stress the fact that it’s people, that we punch, as opposed to dogs or something.

So the complete Japanese sentence that comes out is

オレは人を殴る!

Ore-wa hito-wo naguru! = I punch people!

Ok how about the next sentence.

Ore(I), ashi(feet), suki(love)

Ore(I)- wa

Again we use “wa” after I

Ashi(feet)-ga

In this sentence I chose to use ga, instead of wo. So that you can tell that both are correct, and that now this sentence emphasizes that its, feet! I love as opposed to something else

This comes out to…

Ore-wa ashi-ga suki! = I love FEET!

Time for sentence number 3

Ore(I), toire(toilet), iku(go)

First of all you’ll notice, word for word, the “to” and the “the” are gone. This is because there is no “the” in Japanese, which makes things a lot easier. And “to” we will add now.

Ore(I)-wa

Yet again ore is marked by “wa” I told you it almost always comes first.

Toire(toilet)-e

(this is the "to") Ok e is used here, because we are going to the toilet as a destination, I could use “ni” as well, but with “ni” it just mean I’m going towards the toilet, which is cool to say in Japan btw. I just wanted to show you how e was used.

So…

オレはトイレへ行く

Ore-wa toire-e iku! I’m going to the toilet!

Next we have…

ore(I), kore(this), omae(you), ageru(give)

ore(I)-wa

no surprise here.

Kore-wo

Wo is used because kore(this) is what were giving to you, it’s the object.

Omae(you)-ni

We use “ni” because we’re giving kore(this) to/towards you. You don’t use e, because you are not a destination, simply a direction.

Dun du dun…

オレはこれをお前にあげる

Ore-wa kore-wo omae-ni ageru = I’m giving this to you

And last but not least we have…

Kore(this), kakkoi(cool), da(is)

Kore(this)- wa

Wa is used for the usual reasons, or of couse “ga” could be used.

Kakkoi(cool)- none!

Simply because kakkoi is an adjective, in other words a description. And descriptions can’t go anywhere nor do you normally talk about “cool” or descriptions as topic.

Another reason is that da is a special verb called a copula, which means it’s not an action like other verbs, but means “to be” or “is”.

これはかっこいだ

OK hopefully that cleared up a lot of confusion you might be having, again this is a work in progress, and not meant for people who know nothing about Japanese, but as a supplement for those currently studying.

Until next time!

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Japanese Grammar

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Tue, 25 May 2010 07:24:00 +0000

Have you ever been completely confused by what freaking order you put the words in a sentence?

I have been getting a lot of questions about this recently, So I thought I’d attempt to address it in a simpler way. (please bare with me as this is a work in progress heh)

A part of the problem lies in that Japanese sentence order is completely counter intuitive to what we’re used to.

Some people describe it as backwards, but completely scrambled is a bit closer to the truth (see now doesn’t that make you feel better?)

Ok I’m kidding, it’s not “completely” scrambled, but it is a real toughie for most learners.

Now what most teachers/books/programs try to do is either ignore this fact, and try to teach people standard cookie cutter like sentences. Until they get used to how it’s used.

Or, they attempt to break down the students understanding of how grammar/sentence order works in general (how they have used English), and kind of build an entirely new Japanese grammar base from which to work.

Now both methods are effective, but often times with varying results, and sometimes much frustration.

So I’m gonna try to do something a little different, and link up what you already know about English grammar/sentence order to Japanese grammar.

So to get started here’s a typical English sentence.

I punch people!

Very simple sentence. Now the trick to turning this sentence into Japanese is you have to be able to find the “verb” in the sentence. If you don’t know, the verb is basically “what’s going on” or “the action” in the sentence. In this sentence, what’s obviously going on is the “punching”

So what you do, is you simply grab the “verb”, take it out, and stick it at the back of the sentence.

So “I punch people” = Becomes = “I, people, punch!”

In Japanese this is “Ore, hito, naguru”

Let’s try another sentence.

I love feet! = I, feet, love (ore, ashi, suki)

How about this one?

I’m going to the toilet = I’m, to the toilet, going (Ore, toire, iku)

I’ll give this to you = I‘ll, this, to you, give (ore, kore, omae, ageru)

This is cool = This, cool, is (kore, kakkoi, da)

So as you can see from the above examples the main concept is that all you have to do is take the verb out, and stick it at the end of the sentence, nothing else really matters. (in terms of sentence order anyway)

Now if you’re already studying Japanese you might be asking, what about particles?

And you’d be right on track, because that is what I’ll discuss in tomorrow’s post =)

*Another note is that this formula of sorts does not work with question sentences, such as “what time is it?” Or “Where is that little leprechaun” And those I will address tomorrow as well.

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How To Write In Japanese - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Sat, 22 May 2010 10:28:00 +0000

Alright so since last time I told you all I’d give you more info on how all this squiggly line business works. So this is the second part of my intro to the Japanese writing system.

Ok so this is a typical Japanese sentence.

ロシアが攻撃している! = the Russians are attacking!

Now you’ll of course notice that there’s a whole mess of different characters in there. Hiragana, katakana and even kanji.

Now why is this? Wouldn’t be a bajillion times easier to just type all this mumbo jumbo in one writing system?

Well the answer is yes and no.

First of all because of the major remodeling of the characters the Japanese did, kanji alone couldn’t handle the task of carrying the Japanese language, so this lead to the development to the kana systems.

But then since there were no concept of the space in Japan (that’s why it’s so crowded over there…)

Just kana was too hard to read

Imeancomeonifitypedlikethisallthetimeit’d
probablysuckprettybadhuh?

And at the same time kanji, in itself became sort of a status symbol. Basically the more you knew, the smarter you were. And as stupid as this sounds, just look at English.

Why else do the words, glad, gay, joyful, cheerful, delighted, jovial and exultant exist?

Good lord, just say you’re happy!

And so that is where the games begun, now rumor has it you only need to learn about 2,000 kanji to read a typical newspaper (that’s reassuring…) but fortunately most shounen manga have something called furigana.

And furigana are little kana characters above the kanji that help with reading, basically so you can sound it out instead of knowing the kanji. Which is pretty cool, it helped me be able to read manga before I even knew any kanji. Now the downside is you read a bit slower than normal, but hey that you can savory the manga! Mmm tasty Naruto… (haha corny puns ftw)

Now one more thing about kanji, just in case you haven’t pulled your hair out yet. Is that typically for each kanji there are at least two different ways to read them. And they go by the names

Kun yomi – Japanese reading

And...

On yomi – Chinese reading

Now since I’m assuming most of you don’t know any kanji yet, basically just remember that this makes your life suck more =) (aren’t you glad you dropped in for this positive, uplifting blog post)

Now, as much as most people complain about kanji being the reason they're husband left them, with the right strategy they really aren’t that bad. In fact I had a blast while learning them!

But of course you need this super secret cool tool/book. Butt (_l_), since I’m cool, I’ll tell you about it in my next newsletter, so sign up! And I’ll see you next time!

How To Write In Japanese

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Fri, 21 May 2010 06:56:00 +0000

Are the Japanese, thieves?

Ok I want to make this as basic as possible for people who really don’t know what the hell is going on with all those squiggly lines.

Now as this obviously doesn’t serve much of a purpose for anime, it is important if you’re fond of Manga. And in general I believe all learners of Japanese even if they only wish to learn for anime purposes should learn to write. Simply because the Japanese writing system has some wicked awesome insights to the actual spoken language, for instance why you say certain things, plus it just looks cool, and you can laugh at your friends when they get a tattoo that says something that they didn’t want it to.

Alright to break it down the Japanese have 3 different writing system (don’t get happy yet, it gets better)

First they have an alphabet of 46 like we do that spell/sound things out.

Hiragana = ひらがな

Second, they have a second version of the same exact alphabet. (the Japanese are real efficiency experts…)

Katakana = カタカナ

The reason for this is that Japanese apparently were even more sexist than me at one point (I’m just kidding, I was always more sexist)

So the hiragana being more curvy and cursive in appearance was adopted by women, where the more “official” katakana was reserved for the obviously superior men.

And then a couple hundred years later men realized that they couldn’t make women be with them by sticking a giant samurai sword to their throat anymore, and that they had to actually be nice to them (I still have my samurai sword though… just in case…) So they let them use their writing system.

Anyways, then there’s the third writing system, the dreaded....

Kanji　= 漢字

The Kanji are actually stolen Chinese characters (Now you know the real purpose of the ninja, writing system robbers!)

Ok, the real history of how the Japanese started using the Chinese character is actually shrouded in mystery because the records for this time period… well didn’t exist (this was before they stole the characters remember?)

And in the process of this grand thievery the Japanese had to change a lot of the meanings and pronunciations of the characters. So in essence they effectively made the two thousand plus blobs of lines even more confusing.

Now the hiragana and katakana I talked about earlier are simplified versions of the original Chinese characters. Or it might be better to say they are kanji “inspired. Since they are nothing like them anymore and only resemble them in appearance.

And as I said the hiragana and katakana are an alphabet of sorts like in English. The kanji on the other hand actually have no sounds attached to them and can’t be sounded out. So you won’t be seeing any "Hooked on Phonics" – Kanji Edition.

Instead each one has a unique meaning attached to them, and the way to pronounce them changes on what other characters are around them, and the situation.

So in case you’re wondering, yes there is a katakana, hiragana, and a kanji version to pronounce every single word in the Japanese dictionary. However nowadays katakana is mainly used to depict English "loan" words (..they call them loan words because they don't want another repeat of the kanji incident..)

As for the reason for this ancient torture method and exactly how it all works, you’ll have to wait till tomorrow, since I haven’t slept since last week and my eyes are starting to bleed.

:'( (…that’s not a tear…)

Let's Learn Japanese Review

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Thu, 20 May 2010 06:09:00 +0000

Ok to finish off this review marathon of sorts, I will be reviewing my favorite language learning method! And as you can see above that is none other than the famous Let’s Learn Japanese Basic 1985 TV Series! *cue trumpets*

Ok so maybe this isn’t the most “popular” Japanese Language Learning method, but this retro TV show has enjoyed a fairly prominent cult like following among Japanese language learners.

But down to what matters right? How does it perform? Well as much as I’d like to sing this show’s praises, it does have its flaws.

First of all it’s old, and if you’ve ever seen my Japanese pronouns video, then you’ll know that being old is very easy to make fun of. The show is filled with countless corny (and I mean corny like a prescription from Dr. Scholls corny) cheesy jokes and skits. Of course I’m a sucker for bad jokes so I actually ended up liking the show even more. But seeing as my taste in humor is a bit… off, shall we say. For normal people this becomes a turn off.

Other than that the graphics and quality for the show are severely lacking, and a lot of the cultural stuff is outdated.

So that’s the bad news, now for the good news. The learning method of this program is one I myself follow to a great extent. And in my opinion works quite well, specifically the use of “memorable” skits to ensure memorization. (…boy that sounds stupid...)

But in any event, you basically kick back and watch the 30 minute episodes, and learn. For fans of anime or drama this, I mean come on, this is what we do best! =D

The show incorporates the use of repetition, visual and audio stimuli to assist in the learning process and all in all just keeps your attention with the constant change of scenery. (The different stages + skits ect.)

Pronunciation: Pretty good, but clearly not its strong point

Vocabulary: Limited to a core foundation, but about double Pimsleur.

Grammar : Very good! Through the use of examples this show trumps all others.

Cost: You’d be troubled to find this program for purchase but if you did it wouldn't cost you more than 50 bucks. (Another benefit of being old… you’re cheap!)

Ease of use: Incredibly

Cheesy : Off the charts

All in all despite its setbacks my favorite language learning program gets an 8/10

Well thats my review, I'd really honestly love to hear from you. If you have or have used Let's Learn Japanese Basic I'd be really grateful if you could go ahead and put your input below. Rate on a scale from 1 to 10 and hopefully we can get a bit of a discussion going on here.

Genki Japanese Textbook Review

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Sun, 16 May 2010 07:47:00 +0000

Now on to something a little different than the last few reviews, a book! And not just any book, as I’ve mentioned in other posts, Genki is a rather famous textbook, used in most classrooms across America. How does this guy fair up against the other visual and audio giants, like Rosetta stone and Pimsleur? Pretty good actually! Genki covers all the bases the other two miss and then some.

It’s very well organized and very thorough, after finishing they’re two volumes you will be quiet well versed in most everyday Japanese. The grammar explanations are very well explained, and the book includes so very much for so very little, only costing about 40 bucks. However that doesn’t mean that this book will leave you anywhere near fluent nor is getting through the book a very easy task itself.

Genki, being a textbook, is pretty boring (in fact even if it wasn’t a textbook it would still be very boring, , not sure why they named it genki…) The stories and exercises are quiet monotonous and non-stimulating .

In addition to that, books in general aren’t very good at teaching how to speak a language, simply because… books can’t speak.

The amount of vocabulary in this thing is quiet impressive, however I found it to also be very random. And honestly pretty useless to a beginner, in the first lesson they teach you the word for “economics major”? Seriously?

But you can read more about that stuff over here.

Now despite all this Genki is still my favorite choice for a textbook , as it is for 20,000 middle aged women across America (…teachers..).

This is of course not including Tae Kim’s grammar guide, which is not really a book, but more an online guide (a very thorough online guide) (oh, did I mention it was free?:))

Anyway in closing, Genki textbook gets a 7/10

Thats is of course just my review, I'd really love to hear from you. If you have or have used The Genki textbook I'd be really grateful if you could go ahead and put your input below. Rate on a scale from 1 to 10 and hopefully we can get a bit of a discussion going on here.

Pimsleur Japanese Review

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Sat, 15 May 2010 07:40:00 +0000

Alright on to the next language learning giant, Pimsleur. Again they incorporate a very unique learning style, very unlike Rosetta Stone however.

As a completely audio program, they have the same benefits as JapanesePod101 where you can use net (No Extra Time) time to study, like while jogging or commuting.

However they suffer from the same setbacks. With no visual medium, they're listeners are often distracted, and or simply hindered in learning speed from a lack of visual assistance.

In terms of pronunciation they certainly deliver, even more so then Rosetta Stone, often repeating even each syllable several times. This is where I give a lot of my language pronunciation credit.

Now grammar is where this program suffers, a lot, much like Rosetta Stone. Now Pimsleur does tell you what each word means, but they don’t tell you at all how to use the words you are learning in other ways other than what they teach you. (why I hate gambits..)

Price is as expected from a language learning program, however being audio only is what lowers the value of this program significantly.

Another complaint I often hear is that is can be quite boring as the entire 30 minutes is simply a constant question, and answer format, done over and over. I personally didn’t have a problem with this as I rather like learning (I know I’m strange) but I can see how this can be a problem for some people.

Also the vocabulary is nowhere near Rosetta Stone, about 300 words for 30 lessons

However Pimsleur is very easy to get into, and use in general really. A rather basic proficiency is capable rather effortlessly.

I would recommend Pimsleur as a “survival guide” to Japanese. For someone who’s going to Japan soon, and needs to learn the basics of Japanese quick just so they can survive.

However for the beginner who plans to learn Japanese for the long run, this “can” serve as a good primer. If only it was cheaper.

All in all a 6/10

Official website

Thats my review, of course like always I'd really like to know what you think. If you have or have used Pimsleur's I'd be super cool if you could go ahead and put your input below. Rate on a scale from 1 to 10 and hopefully we can get a discussion going on here.

7 Reasons To Subscribe To My Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Fri, 14 May 2010 09:45:00 +0000

1. It’s totally free.

2. Exclusive content and lessons–from cutting-edge ideas to secret videos–are often limited to subscribers only. If you want the rarest opportunities, subscribing is the way to go.

3. Your info will never be shared with anyone. I hate spammers as much as you do. Scout’s honor.

4. Like to be in charge? I often resort back to my subscribers when I need advice myself about lesson topic choices, or general website direction.

5. Subscribing is worth testing for a few days just to experience it. Decide you don't like it? Just unsubscribe with one click and you’re back at the campfire.

6. Need a question or some advice answered right away? I always email back subscribers first before anyone else.

7. Subscribers are smart and hot.

Rosetta Stone Japanese Review

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:11:00 +0000

This company needs no introduction as they are currently America’s biggest language learning company. If they have done anything right at all, it would be without a doubt the incredible marketing campaign that has turned this business into a household name.

Now ascetically this program is very nice and easy to use, beautiful pictures, interface and packaging. And they’re language learning method is very innovative and logical at the same time.

The price is quite a bit high however, 300 bucks, but you can get it for about 200 in some places. Also if you’re taking on a language of any type you should expect to invest a large amount of time and money. As I said in my last post, you can’t expect to go through the language without a guide of some sort. And no matter what method you use you’re probably gonna end up spending about 100 to 300 dollars anyways.

The vocabulary in this program is very impressive, literately thousands of words. More than any other language learning method in existence! In terms of grammar however, you are gonna be left in the dust. Rosetta Stone is very poor in that area.

The biggest complaint I have with this program is its guessing game approach to teaching. It’s very hard to figure out what exactly the example sentences are referring to in the picture, and has frustrated me to no end. Well actually there was an end, when I decided this method wasn’t for me and I moved on about half way through.

Pronunciation is quite easy to pick up with this program! However if you watch anime most likely you won’t have a problem in that area anyway.

In terms of reading and writing, the latest versions have tried to incorporate this a bit more but in all honesty still leaves a lot to be desired.

To sum it all up Rosetta stone has done a great job to bring language learning to a more wide spread audience. And though its unique method may leave some frustrated (like me), with a Japanese English dictionary nearby, this frustration is quelled quiet easily. (unfortunately I didn’t figure this out till after I abandoned it, genius I know...)

However despite its setbacks Rosetta Stone is quite painless to get into and overall does perform.

A solid 6/10

Yesterday : JapanesePod101
Tomorrow: Pimsleur Japanese

Rosetta Stone's Website

Well thats my review, again I'd really like to know what you think. If you have or have used Rosetta stone It be awesome if you could add your input below. you can also rate on a scale from 1 to 10 if you like.

Japanesepod101 Review

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Thu, 13 May 2010 05:43:00 +0000

OK so people are always asking me about the best/fastest ways to learn Japanese.

So I decided I’d do some reviews for some of the more popular ones.

First off, as the title says is of course www.japanesepod101.com

This site has gotten quite popular recently.Now at first I really didn’t like this site, and this sounds a bit mean, but honestly I thought they’re spokes person was really annoying. You know, the one all over youtube, that Japanese girl?

But then one day I decided to stop being a complete ass, and try them out. So I did, last week actually. And cool thing was, I actually liked they’re site! They have literately hundreds of different lessons to learn from! Something I thought was amazing! And the podcast’s themselves are very professionally produced. It’s sort of like a morning talk show type thing.

However! I found it very faced paced, and most of the time they give good explanations on how to words are used, but make really no attempt to help the listener to actually remember the phrases! A lot of the time I found them simply listing the vocabulary words.

Another downfall to this site is there is very little direction on how to go about learning, It is was cool for me because I already speak the language but for somebody just starting out it would be a bit random.

On top of that, they seem really cheap, with the whole free lifetime membership thing, But the supposedly free, lifetime membership really has a very very limited amount of content on it. And is just a sales gimmick to get you to upgrade.

So with they’re most basic upgrade, 4 dollars a month, which seems quiet cheap. Its comes to about 50 bucks a year. Now as most people take 4 years to learn a language, especially with Japanesepod101’s haphazard lesson format. You’ll end up spending about 200 bucks. Which of course isn’t so cheap.

All in all I’d say this site is great as a supplemental resource, something you can use to keep your Japanese up to speed when you’re doing something else. (for example I listen to it while jogging, and driving)

But to really learn the language from the ground up, in the quickest amount of time, there are other options out there.

Overall 5/10

Well thats my review, I'd really like to know what you think. If you have or have used Japanesepod101 I'd be really grateful if you could go ahead and put your input below. Rate on a scale from 1 to 10 and hopefully we can get a bit of a discussion going on here.

How To Study Japanese Online

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Wed, 12 May 2010 06:35:00 +0000

“How far can you get with Japanese alone?”

I recently saw a question on a forum like this that caught my attention.

Basically, is it possible to study without a teacher for whatever reason that may be.

And the answer in my opinion is … yes and no.

On the one side, there are tons of other resources out there that can be used to learn Japanese besides a live teacher. So the answer is yes.

But on the other side, you can’t expect to learn a language with no guide what so ever. In my case I did happen to take classes in college with a teacher. But that was 4 years after I had learned in the first place. (and to be honest it was a easy A)

So as you may know I used self study programs. (Pimsluers, LLJB, rosetta stone, ect.) And I did learn the language! But I had a guide.

And in my opinion, a book, even the great “Genki”, really isn’t a “complete” guide. A book can’t teach you to speak a language, simply because… a book can’ speak. However they are indispensible as a study resource.

So to sum it up, Yeah! Japanese self study is possible! But without a guide of some type the Japanese forest is ten times as big (corny metaphors ftw..)

How to say I In Japanese

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Mon, 10 May 2010 01:24:00 +0000

Here’s 43 more examples of characters from the 3 anime series I often use within my videos. If you have any requests for other characters or series not listed, I will be happy to list them as long I have knowledge of them.

Fullmetal Alchemist

Edward Elric - ore

Alphonse Elric – boku

Roy Mustang – watashi

Winry Rockbell– atashi

Father – watashi

Solf J. Kimblee – watashi

Lust – watashi

Gluttony – boku

Greed – ore

Sloth – ore

Wrath/ King Bradley – watashi

Pride- watashi

Selime Bradley - boku

Izumi Curtis – watashi

Hohenheim – ore

Marcoh – watashi

Olivier Armstrong – watashi

Naruto

Naruto Uzumaki– ore

Sasuke Uchiha– ore

Sakura Haruno– atashi

Kakashi Hatake– ore

Orochimaru – watashi

Kiba – ore

Shino – ore

Hinata – watashi

Choji Akimichi– boku

Shikamaru Nara– ore

Ino Yamanaka– atashi

Rock Lee – boku

Might Guy – ore

Jiraiya – washi

Inuyasha

Inuyasha – ore

Kagome Higurashi– atashi

Miroku – watashi

Sango – atashi

Kikyo – watashi

Sesshomaru – refers to himself in the third person (ultra cocky/high and mighty)

Naraku – watashi

Myoga – washi

Totosai – washi

Jaken – washi

Kohaku – boku

Rin – atashi

Video Transcript

1) Welcome back everybody! To another one of my ever so cla ssy Japanese YouTube Lessons! Now today I’m gonna cover something I touched upon in an earlier video, and also something very very important to learning Japanese.

2) So important in fact that according to my analysis carries the number one, most commonly used word in all anime!

2) Can you guess? Ok so maybe you don’t have to since you can all probably read, and YouTube has placed a lovely title above. But none the less, today’s lesson is about the Top Ten Most Commonly Used Japanese Anime Pronouns!

3) Specifically, this is part one, the top 5 ways to say the word I. Since, unlike English, Japanese has literately dozens of different ways to say the words I and YOU.

4) Now this . supposed confusing aspect about Japanese is actually one of my favorite parts of the language. The reason for this is because each different word actually carries a unique intonation about the personality of the speaker. Don’t worry though, this will all make sense at the end of the video.

5) Another note before I begin is that Japanese pronouns are often omitted in casual speech, simply because it’s usually obvious who the speaker is talking about. Personally I think English is too Pronoun happy anyway.

6) Yet another note is that I’m going to be teaching the anime uses of these words. The difference is that anime is very commonly much “ruder” than real life. Obviously right? I mean, were fighting demons and death gods here, you gotta be a little rude. Just to be safe though, if you’re addressing any non-evil beings be a little more careful.

7) Ok enough with the chit chat, let’s get started! The number 1 Japanese pronoun and, the number 1 Anime word of all time is…Ore! This version of the word “I” is used mainly by males who wants to appear tough or rough in some way.

(Pronunciation guide)

8) Now in actuality when I said this is the most commonly used word in all anime, I’m really just referring to shounen anime (or anime for boys) since this term is 99% of the time said by males. And on average the word ore is repeated about 10 times per episode, and is usually heard from the main character of the series.

“kuso!” “Ore” will never give up! I’m going to destroy you! Hemorrhoids!

9) There also exists an interesting combination of the words, ore, and -sama, to mean something like “the almighty me” This is a phrase you might wanna use if you’re very cocky, or an asshole…

10) Here’s some well know characters that are known to use the pronoun “ore”

(anime clips)

11) Ok! Moving on to the second most commonly heard pronoun in anime, Watashi. In anime “Watashi is mostly heard from older men or woman and or in formal situations.

(Pronunciation guide)

12) Now if you’re currently learning Japanese this is one of the very first words you’ll come across. This is because it’s is a very safe version of the word “I” Unlike ore which could come across as very cocky or immature watashi is probably the term you’d use with someone you didn’t know very well.

13) In anime this is the standard for most girls, but for guys is heard mostly from older non-main character males.

Bakana! Ano baka ga sono hemrroids wo taoshita koto to wa! Watashi wa shijirarenai.

14) And here’s noteable characters that use watashi.

(Anime clips)

15) Alright pronoun number 3! Atashi, Atashi comes from the word “watashi” and is used mainly by girls who want to appear cute in some way.

(Pronunciation)

16) Now atashi is pretty much the norm for most side character love interests.

“Help me! Ken-kun!”

“OK, now push the plunger in an up and down motion!”

17) Now in real life girls who use this pronoun might be seen as a little immature, and guys who use this might be seen as a little homo-sexual. So girls make sure to use it mainly with you girlfriends, and guys..you can… use it with your uhh… boyfriends..

18) In any event, as with the rest of these words, be careful on how you use them.

19) Ok here’s some popular character that are know to use atashi.

(anime clips)

20) The 4^th most commonly used personal pronoun is Boku! This is sort of the boy version of the pronoun atashi, and is used mainly by younger or less mature boys.

(pronunciation guide)

21) Now in real life, this version of the word “I” is perfectly normal for an adult male to use in an informal situation. However in anime it’s much different, as most males prefer either ore

23) (cocky bastards)

23) or watashi (old bastards).

24) There’s a lot of bastards in anime…

25) now males who use boku in anime are either very young, below high school age…or are generally seen as a bit childish, cowardly; sterile … you get the idea.

Yoshi! Boku ga dekiru yo!

(smacks spider) toriya!

Yatta! Zama miro yo! Kowai Kumo-chan!

26) I should also note that in anime you may sometimes hear a girl use this pronoun. These girls are either tom-boys… or generally confused about their gender.

27) Heres some characters that are known to use boku..

(Anime clips)

28) Alright and the 5^th and final most common version of the word “I” is…Washi! This is again something you’ll hear a lot more in anime than real life, but it’s generally used by extremely old characters

29) or dinosaurs… smile

(Pronunciation guide)

30) Ok the usage of this pronoun is generally dying out…

31) much like it’s users (smile)

32) but is most always heard from the old wise “mentor” character of the series…

“Back In my day, I was the greatest hemorrhoid fighter there ever was…”

33) Now if anyone else were to use this phrase it would simply sound like there imitaeing an old man, nothing more.

“Now where did I put my Viagra…”

34) Here’s some notable characters that have been know to use washi..

(Anime clips)

35) OK to recap, the top 5 ways to say I in Japanese are…Ore – rough and tough, Watashi – Mature and formal, Atashi – Cutesy and girly, Boku – Childish and immature, and Washi – Old and wise… and old (smile)

Japanese Swear Words 2

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 06:56:00 +0000

Alright! And now I've got part 2 up!

Here's the transcribed text:

Part 2

Hey guys! Welcome to part 2 of the top ten most common Japanese cuss words!

And as you all should know I’m using the Japanese anime “naruto” as my helper.

Cuss word number 6,

Kisama

This word is very similar to the word Temee, in the essence that’s it’s actually a pronoun meaning the word “you”. And while temee carries a more vulgar connotation, kisama actually begets the air of “hate” or “detest” to whom it’s directed. Therefore a good English equivalent might be “motherfucker”

(Pronunciation guide)

Kisama also is used by more mature individuals, or people or think their mature. And temee, is mostly used by a brasher younger crowd.

Here's an example depicting the difference between teme and kisama..

“Temee! Don’t touch my girlfriend’s ass.”

Temee! Kanojou no ketsu sawaruna!

“kisama… how dare you touch my wife’s ass…”

Kisama yokumo tsuma no oshiri wo

So basically… if you touch someone’s ass, be prepared to called one of these names…

(Naruto clips)

Cuss word number 7!

Shimatta!

This word literately means “oh no! It happened” but is usually translated as “crap”, or “damn.”

(Pronunciation guide)

Now shimatta is probably in the same category as “baka” ….the category that isn’t really cuss words at all.

But I’m including them because as opposed to other nastier words, shimata and baka are used much more often and therefore more essential to learning Japanese.

“Shimatta! I forgot to let grandma out of the closet!”

Shimatta baachan wo corousetto kara dasu no wasureta!

Yeah use it like that...

(Naruto clips)

Shimatta is also used at the end of other verbs, like eat. To mean something like (oh no, I ate already!) but that’s something Ill cover more in depth in another lesson.

On to cuss word number 8

Urusai!

Urusai literately means “noisy” or “you’re noisy” but since in Japan saying that is more or less a suggestion to be quiet and a bit insulting at the same time, it’s usually translated as meaning “shut up!”

(urusai pronunciation)

In essence it’s used like this...

Usrusai! I’m trying to watch to watch sailor moon!

Urusai! Seeraa moon chuu da zo!

Now if you wanna be one of the cool kids, you have to use the slang version of “urusai”, which is “urusee”

This version is also a lot more common in casual conversation.

(Naruto clips)

Cuss word number 9!

Che!

Che in Japanese is more like a grunt than an actually word. But in English the translation often comes out as “damn” or “shit”

(Pronunciation guide)

Che also comes close to the English “psst!” or “hump” depending on the context.

Basically you can use che whenever you’d like to scoff someone.

“che! I can’t believe you have actually have 7 nipples”

Che! Nana chikubi wo moteiru to wa na…

Here are some more examples from naruto

(Naruto clips)

And the last cuss word for today’s lesson is, number 10

Damare!

Damare is a verb that means “shut up”. But since commands of most kinds are pretty harsh in Japanese, it also carries about the strength of the phrase “shut the fuck up!”

(Pronunciation guide)

This phrase is used when you’re usually upset about something...

“Damare! I don’t look like Taylor Lautner!”

Damare! Teiraa ratonaa ni nitenee yo

And here are some examples from naruto

(Naruto clips)

Just remember this phrase is very powerful, so if someone says this to you probably fucked up.

Alright! That was my presentation of the top ten Japanese cuss words. I used word frequency charts of, no surprise here, naruto! As well as my own 7 + years of Japanese knowledge to come up with the words so it’s quite accurate.

I hope you guys liked it! And if you did, remember to subscribe. This is only the first in a whole bunch of YouTube vlog lessons I’ve got planned for the coming weeks.

Have fun with your new words you potty mouth yarou’s…

Japanese Vocabulary

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cannon) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:21:00 +0000

I want to address the second main reason learning Japanese the conventional way proves to be quite difficult, the relevancy of the vocabulary. The hours and hours you spend learning the hundreds of words most programs include in their curriculum, often end up completely useless. I recently completed an analysis of the popular textbook “Genki” (the textbook used in about 60% Japanese classrooms nowadays). And out of the 1189 words taught throughout their 2 volumes, only about 637 words were found to be used in everyday casual conversation. And a mere 291 words I discovered were used in popular anime shows.

So a little over half of the words you learn become completely useless. That’s an entire 2 years in a high school, or a year in a college course down the drain.

And if you’re the average anime watcher like most of my expected readers probably are, only 1/4 of all the words you learn actually become useful.

I’ve done similar analyses on “Rosetta Stone” “Pimsleur’s” and “Lets Learn “Japanese” and they rank about the same, with “Lets Learn Japanese” fairing bit better than the other two.

Now I don’t mean to say that these programs are themselves useless. Personally I bought and benefited from all 4 of them. And if you plan to use these programs to actually move to Japan or to do business there, my analyses don’t hold as much water.

However, for the average anime/Jdrama viewer or just somebody who plans to communicate with close friends, these findings are quiet de-motivating. And you’ll soon feel it as you begin to learn the language, if you haven’t already.

In fact I think that’s another reason why people often say learning Japanese is hard, or becomes boring. The material taught isn’t really relevant.

But it doesn’t have to be that way! There is a better way and I’m going to share that with you guys in the next post, see you then!